KENNESAW — Give a team two weeks to prepare for its opponent and one never knows what can happen.

North Cobb can attest to that.

Xavier Borishade returned the opening kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown — the first of his four scores — and the Warriors never looked back en route to a stunning 49-17 victory over Walton on Friday at Emory Sewell Stadium.

North Cobb (2-0) led 21-17 at halftime, then outscored the third-ranked Raiders 28-0 in the second half.

The Warriors executed well in all phases of their home opener. Romeo Lewis returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown at the start of the second half, and quarterback Tyler Queen ran for two touchdowns. Queen ran for 62 yards on 12 carries, and he also completed 11 of 17 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

It was a complete victory for a North Cobb team not many predicted had a chance to win.

“We did what we had to do,” Borishade said. “We didn’t want to get complacent. That’s the thing we talked about over the years — our team has gotten a big head. This year, we have the heart of a team that comes together and does what it has to do. I think we did make a statement. North Cobb put North Cobb back on the map.

“For two weeks, we had prepared for this team, seeing what they did and not believing all of the hype that everybody brought on us. We were predicted to lose, but we came out here and did what we had to do.”

Much like Walton running back Tyren Jones, who rushed 35 times for 181 yards — a season-low total for him — and a touchdown, Borishade was a one-man wrecking crew for the Warriors, catching eight passes for 174 yards and three scores.

Eghosa Agbonghae’s sack a combined sack by Jalil Kuku and Jerry McQuade and a 10-yard penalty for Walton on its first possession following Borishade’s initial kickoff return led to a Raiders punt.

On North Cobb’s first offensive drive, Queen found Borishade open across the middle of the field, and the senior weaved through the Walton defense for a 78-yard score. The Warriors had missed the point-after attempt following Borishade’s return, but they converted a 2-point conversion after the touchdown reception to take a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Despite a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 12-yard touchdown run from Jones, and a 22-yard field goal from Anthony Price that trimmed North Cobb’s margin to 14-10 with 6:46 seconds left in the second period, the Warriors were undaunted, and their confidence level continued to rise.

The teams traded 3-minute touchdown drives as time continued to wind down in the first half, with Queen rushing 7 yards for a score, and Parker McLeod connecting with D.J. Smith for a 36-yard touchdown reception with 46 seconds left to give Walton the four-point halftime lead.

Smith finished with six receptions for 102 yards.

“So many times, we’ve had the lead at halftime over the last four years, only to give it up to the other team in the second half,” North Cobb coach Shane Queen said. “I told our kids at halftime that I was tired of talking about the 2007 season.”

The Warriors went a perfect 10-0 through the regular season five years ago, only to lose in the first round of the state playoffs.

“It was time for these seniors to do something special here, and they bought into it,” Queen added. “They bought into everything these coaches said this week, and they believed they could play with anybody.”

The proof came with Lewis’ interception return, which gave North Cobb a 28-17 advantage with 10:59 left in the third quarter, and the Warriors’ no-huddle offense.

After the interception, North Cobb’s forced Walton punt, and the Warriors used the no-huddle attack — along with a two-back offensive set that they didn’t use in the first half — to deftly move the ball downfield.

Starting from its own 11, North Cobb ran eight rushing plays and five passes — converting for six first downs and taking 6 minutes off the clock — before Queen and Borishade connected again, this time from 4 yards out, to stake a 35-17 margin with 3:33 left in the period.

“Tom Clark, our offensive coordinator, and Chad McGehee, our defensive coordinator, just spent countless hours the last two weeks,” Queen said. “Those guys put our kids in the right position, and our kids made plays (Friday). I’m speechless — to do it at home in front of our community to win a football game like that — I feel like I’m going to wake up in a minute.”

Walton twice attempted to convert on fourth down on its next two drives, but it was stopped both times, and the last turnover on downs gave North Cobb great field position at the Raiders’ 31-yard line.

Queen found Borishade for a 38-yard touchdown reception and a 42-17 lead with 8:35 left, and North Cobb capped the night with 11 consecutive running plays on its final possession, punctuated by a 1-yard touchdown run from Queen that sealed the 49-17 final.

“We tried to shorten the game and keep the ball out of the (Walton) offense’s hand,” Queen said. “They can score so many points so quickly. Even when you’re up by three touchdowns, you’re scared to death if you’re a coach. So, we tried to run the football a lot, and even if we don’t score, they’re on the sidelines a lot. Our kids did it to perfection. It was a total team performance.

“After (Friday), never count out a 16- or 17-year-old kid, I’ll just say that. When you get 80 kids believing in the same cause, it’s scary what can happen. In 20 years, I don’t know that I’ve seen what happened (Friday). I’m speechless.”

As Queen celebrated his team’s victory, his Walton counterpart was left to figure what went wrong.

“Evidently, I didn’t do a good job of preparing our kids and getting them ready to play,” Rocky Hidalgo said. “Congratulations to coach Queen. They played a great game. They have a great football team, and I knew that coming in. We didn’t play very well, and frankly, they kicked our butt.

If im not mistaken, Walton had 2 weeks to prepare for North Cobb as well. Every team has a starter out or injured. Look at North Cobb offensive line compared to Waltons offensive line Friday night. Talent by far was on the Raiders line but the NC OL seemed to want it a bit more. Also, North Cobbs Top RB didnt even start, which is my point, in today's game, a good offense has 15 starters, doesnt matter if you're on the field at kickoff, it matters if your on the field making a difference throughout the game.

49 to 17. You explain it. I think a lot of people question the entire situation.

newdefense

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September 18, 2012

I'll help explain it. North Cobb had 2 weeks to prepare for Walton and they did a very good job. The Walton OL was missing 2 starters due to injuries and the line was weaker then usual. On defense,Walton gave up 173 points total in the entire 2011 season and in the first 3 games have given up 119. Walton replaced 9 starters on defense and 7 of them are playing right now in college. No one is saying they aren't very good, they just aren't as good as Zack and Daron Blaylock, Justin Brooks, Dedric Sunby and those guys. Walton will be fine.

Ben R

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September 16, 2012

Really Rocky?

Trying to prove Mcloud is a D1 QB is like you trying to be on Dancing with the Stars! #FAIL

I couldn't even go to the concession stand without hearing a NC MOM say Walton couldn't throw the ball. I guess the QB competition comes down to what Dads do off the field. Sellout

Ben, you don't know what you're talking about. Both of the QB dads are on the board for the touchdown club so that comment doesn't hold water. Did you see the game? I didn't think so. The drive that McLeod had before the half was poised and perfectly executed. He was 16 of 25 and while a few passes were overthrown, the rest were drops. The receiver corp is still learning as none of them were on the field last year. The Raiders have yet to play a game with their offensive line in place. Every week has had 1-2 key players out with injuries. This past week was no exception as TE Brad Green was still out and Jack Schaeffer was out because he was injured wakeboarding on Labor Day.

Pretty funny for you to accuse Rocky of playing favorites. Do you even know the man? It also sounds to me like you're questioning Nick Saban for offering Parker McLeod a scholarship. Are you saying that he doesn't know what he's doing?

Fred Astaire

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September 17, 2012

Maybe Nick Saban does know what he is doing. Maybe he gave Parker a scholarship to keep Tyren. Happens all the time.

Sounds like Rocky better get working on his cha-cha if he wants to convince people.

NCHS Wants to know

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September 16, 2012

Hey Coach Queen, why not do the classy thing and kick a Field Goal on 4th down late in the 4th quarter, well inside Borduin's range? Especially when it's 42-17 and he has driven the ball 6 out 7 times D-E-E-P into the end zone. If you don't allow him the opportunity to shine watch that ball stop going so deep! Just saying...

J. Scott your an idiot. First of all it's JV games. Second of all Mcloud seems to being just fine. I'm willing to bet coach Saban nows a little more about talent than you do.

doesn'tmatter

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September 15, 2012

J. Scott, there is a big difference between JV ball and varsity ball. McLeod looked much more steady in this game, especially the drive just before halftime. He was very poised. He threw one pick as North Cobb blitzed that resulted in a TD. He was 16 of 32 and just a few of those passes were off the mark. The rest were drops again. He and the receiver corp will get in a groove very soon. Stone Romberg is the only returning receiver and he had some nice grabs. The Raiders are hoping that big Brad Green will be cleared to play on Friday. I'm curious to see what the time of possession was during this game as it seemed like the Walton defense was out on the field the entire night. Walton had to go for it twice on 4th and 5 while in NC territory, just to try and keep the ball away from NC. Both attempts failed. The holes that Jack Schaeffer helped provide for Jones weren't there as he's out due to a wakeboarding accident. Ridge Gibson was also missed during this game.

anonymous

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September 15, 2012

It wouldnt of mattered we stopped the run which is all walton has ! Dont blame parker it was just great exicution on our part. #warriornation

ecisesso 232.085

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September 15, 2012

Congratulations to the North Cobb players and coaches! Great accomplishment!

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